King and Queen
by Sei-chan-1999
Summary: There are a lot of problems in a girl's life. Sometimes, Yuki just wants a hug.


**Title:** King and Queen

By: Sei-chan-1999/Darkest Symphony

**Summary:** There are a lot of problems in a girl's life. Sometimes, Yuki just wants a hug.

**Rating:** T

**Warning:** Girl stuff, sugary fluff, bits of angst and overall, a seriously hormonal mixture of teenaged emotions. You'll need to have read the manga to understand the deeper implications fully.

XXX

"You don't know how they all stare at me when I go in there," the girl fumed as she violently punched the mattress she was seated on, "And they think _I'm_ the lecherous predator."

She blew enough air out of her mouth to ruffle the messy blond bangs that spilled into her eyes. The girl beside her, a rather tolerant but weary looking friend, just smiled tiredly as if she had heard the tirade a hundred times already.

She had.

"You did scream at him last time," she pointed out gently, "Everyone in the castle heard it."

Yuki tried to scowl, but on her face, it unfortunately just came out as a pout.

"He wouldn't play the game properly," she defended herself, "I told him ten, no, a _hundred_ times the difference between a king and queen but he still mixes the pieces up!"

Her friend smiled sympathetically once more and tucked a shock of chocolate brown hair behind her ear. Hers wasn't as beautiful or even close to how lustrous Yuki's was, but at least it didn't look like every force existent in nature had attacked it.

"It's the society and time period we were born into," the girl explained gently to her agitated friend, "They're not as open minded as you'd like. In a community like ours, everyone knows what others do-"

"But we don't do anything!"

The girl tilted her head curiously to the side.

"Then why are you blushing?"

Yuki snapped her face away but her friend still caught a glimpse of the rare if embarrassed smile that fought its way onto her delicate features.

"If you aren't _doing_ anything," the girl continued, "Then you don't have anything to be ashamed of, do you?"

Yuki made a non-committal noise.

"I'm glad you're happier now," her friend went on saying, "You're not just feigning things like you used to."

"I'm not," Yuki agreed and then grinned widely at the girl beside her, "Thanks. For listening, I mean."

"I'd better go now and help the others," the girl said at last as she stood up and smoothed down her dress with a fond sigh, "Hotsuma gets cranky if he doesn't get dinner on time."

"You can be his dinner!" Yuki cheered loudly and the other girl pretended not to hear her as she exited through the majestic doors of the bedroom. A few heartbeats later, the feeling of elation in her vanished and the nauseating darkness was wrapped around her again.

Yuki threw herself back onto the mattress with a thud and groaned as the painful jars worked their way through her body. She was still confined to bed after the last requirement of her talent and someone had had the _brilliant _idea to give her a rigid mattress to hasten the healing of her injured spine.

To top it off, it was _that_ time of month and she wanted nothing more than a sinfully hot bath and something cold and sweet for dessert right after. With candied fruits on top. And perhaps some chocolate. She had to keep it simple, of course.

She had an idea for a new invention; a sort of device on the wall where the hot water could be poured to stream down onto a person bathing, so they wouldn't have to bend over and use a leaky bucket or lie in a tub of gradually cooling and dirtied water.

And it'd be so much easier to maintain her hair.

She'd told Takashiro-san about her brilliant idea but the only reply she'd gotten was an indulgent smile and a patient nod, which meant he planned to do absolutely nothing about it.

Her hair.

Dear God, there was so much of it that she wondered how much of it added to her body weight. She'd been all for cutting it short ages ago, but then…

_He_ said that he had liked it.

So she endured yet one more thing.

She tried wriggling into a more comfortable position, but her back was determined to give her a bad time tonight and she felt generally hot and itchy and irritated by every human around her. It was getting darker in the castle even though she could still make out the muted sunset in the distance and she wasn't feeling up to lighting a candle and bringing it to her bedside.

But all that aside, she wanted something else much, much more. She wanted it so badly that it made her ache inside to think of being denied that one simple thing.

A hug.

Someone to pull her into a crushing embrace where she could go limp and have every other leering thought pushed out of her chaotic mind for a few dear moments.

Suppressing her groan, she pulled herself back into a sitting position and then gingerly stood up, preparing herself mentally for a long walk ahead.

She was a girl on a mission.

XXX

He was dressed simply, seated at a messy desk and reading. His only illumination was the last of the dying lights in the sky.

Yuki knew that later on, when he was fast asleep, she'd sneak into his room, take the book for herself and flip through it eagerly, trying to imagine every part of the story from his point of view.

What would he have thought of the scene where the heroine had declared her undying affection for her lover? Would it perhaps strike a hauntingly similar chord with him? Or the part where soldiers tortured and murdered the knight who wouldn't bow to the tyrant? Would he glance at the description dispassionately or read each word with growing horror? Would he think that the peasant boy who'd given up his scraps of food to an injured child was kind…or foolish?

And then, she'd dump the book back just as he was waking up and secretly watch him stare in confusion at the thing which was a lot farther from its original place than it had any right to be-

"Yuki! What are you doing here?"

Oops, she didn't noticed that she'd reached already.

"I wanted to see you," she said brightly, leaning ever so slightly against the doorframe for support, waiting for her breathing to slow down, "I missed you, Luka."

He stood up and shut the book before coming over to her, concern on his face. He was paler than most humans and now, after their last series of battles and the strain of those terrible days, he looked more gaunt than usual. He had raven hair that glimmered in the right places but tonight, just like hers, it was unwashed and limp and she wondered if he'd like her idea for the new bathwater device she'd thought of earlier.

Of course he would.

"You could have called me," he countered gently, leading her into the room and dragging out a heavy chair for her to rest.

"But we're so far away," Yuki protested, the thought of that walk making her feel weak already as he helped her down.

Luka turned and glanced outside. Her room was three doors away. She met his eyes with an expression of absolute innocence and his mouth twisted a little.

"How are your injuries?" he asked, taking a place on the desk beside her.

"They're healing," she grimaced, "But I have _really_ awful cramps, Luka. It's like my insides are melting."

"What?!"

He was standing again, voice full of alarm, ready to run to either end of the world for whatever help she needed.

"Oh, no!" Yuki said hurriedly, "You don't have to worry about that. I'm sorry, I was just trying to tell you that…..you know."

"What is it?"

She smiled and shook her head.

"Anyway," she continued, as he settled down again, "I came here for something."

He looked cautious now and she wondered if Takashiro-san had been lecturing him too, although she didn't see why; it wasn't like _he_ had anything to lose. It was just one more reason to add to her rapidly growing list of 'Why I detest being a girl'.

She held out her arms as much as she could, after she managed to stand up without falling over

"I want a hug," she said simply.

That was a simple enough request.

He obediently stood and nudged the chair out of the way to give her more space.

"No, not like that, Luka," Yuki said impatiently, "This time, you're not going to just stand there as usual. You have to hug _back_, see?"

They embraced then and as usual, she knocked the breath out of him first, but his arms were barely touching her shoulders.

She ground her teeth in annoyance and then neatly kicked his shin.

"Ow!"

"Harder," she said sweetly, looking up, "We can do this all night."

Innuendos were wasted on him, she decided, when he failed to react to that.

Yet, something in her voice or actions had worked its magic because this time, it was so unbelievably perfect that for one terrifying and wonderful instant, Yuki was sure that Luka would break every bone in her body, leaving her robbed of breath and life forever.

And impossibly, it was that very same feeling that made everything broken inside her come back together again, re-igniting the power she thought she had almost totally used up and with it, giving her some of his own, like she was being prepared for everything ahead.

A wordless assurance that she would survive.

"How is the Chess lesson going?"

They flew apart from each other and Yuki nearly tripped over her own shaky legs, while the Duras backed up against the adjacent wall like he wanted to dissolve into it.

"TAKASHIRO-SAN!"

The shrill echoes lasted close to fifteen seconds.

The man who stood at the door had dark rings under molten eyes partially obscured by spectacles, but they were shining with mischief as his lips crooked upwards.

"Does he think he's your elder brother?" Luka muttered to the flushing girl, who was trembling in rage. She moved back to his side and leaned her head against his shoulder, as he discreetly wrapped an arm around her waist.

"The King is easy to distinguish from the Queen," Takashiro said with a flourish, entering the room fully and observing the dusty chess set and its pieces lying neglected on the cluttered desk. He smiled benevolently at the two, coolly disregarding the smoldering glares he was receiving.

"The King as a piece is usually _much_ taller than the Queen-"

He skillfully dodged the bishop Yuki hurled at him.

"But the Queen is shaped more elegantly, if deadly, trying to ferociously protect the King-"

He wasn't able to duck in time as the chessboard went flying.

THE END.

XXX

**So, I broke out of my preferred series this time and I've become a die-hard fan of the Uraboku fandom. And yeah, I support Luka x Yuki as well as Hotsuma x Shuusei. Basically, I love the complexity of the whole group.**

**For those who haven't read the manga, Hotsuma mentions that in one of their previous lives, Shuusei was a girl. I just had to use that.**

**I took liberties with Girl! Yuki's character, but I based stuff on what I read in the manga and what little we saw of her personality there. The fic was always waiting to be written but when I had a really awful day, the words just came easily. For those interested, I attended Chess class for a year but due to the lack of time (and talent), I dropped out.**

**I hope you enjoyed the fic! Please read, review and drop me a line if you have any questions or requests!**


End file.
